Woman charged with cruelty to animals

GREENCASTLE, Pa. - A Hagerstown woman was charged with cruelty to animals last week after a small dog was found in a dumpster in Greencastle in October.

Lisa Marie Widmyer, 29, of 17441 Cindy Lane, Hagerstown, is scheduled to be arraigned before District Justice John Ommert on March 24 at 9:30 a.m.

The cruelty to animal charge was filed last week after an investigation by Georgia Martin, humane society investigator for the Antietam Humane Society in Waynesboro, Pa.

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She is charged with a second-degree misdemeanor for "willfully and maliciously torturing a domestic animal," according to allegations in the criminal complaint.

During the investigation, Martin learned from one of Widmyer's neighbors about threats against the dog.

According to the report, Widmyer told the neighbor a few days before the incident that she was tired of the dog "eating her cat food and chasing her horse."

If convicted, Widmyer faces a maximum fine of $5,000 and a two-year jail term and a minimum $1,000 fine, Martin said.

The dog, named Rascal, a small tan male hound mix, was found in a dumpster in the rear of the Antrim Way Car Wash, 212 S. Antrim Way, on Oct. 25, according to Martin's report.

The dog was bound at all four feet and around the mouth with bailing twine and placed in a black plastic bag with a paper cat food bag over top. The bags were bound to the neck of the dog with bailing twine, the report said.

The dog was traced to its owner in the Cearfoss area by its rabies tag.

The owner turned Rascal over to the humane society and he was adopted into a good home, Martin said.

Charles Grunden, manager of the car wash, found the dog at the bottom of the empty dumpster after he opened it to throw away trash he collected from one of the car wash bays, according to the report.

Grunden told Martin he confronted a woman earlier that day after he saw her pull in front of the dumpster then back up and pull down to a wash bay. Grunden described the woman and picked out her car out of a photo lineup, the report states.